Online commentator receives harsh sentence in Vietnam

Bangkok,
April 29, 2011--Vietnamese authorities should release democracy
activist and online
commentator Vi Duc Hoi, who was given a five-year prison term Tuesday for critical
essays posted on the Internet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Hoi, a former
high-ranking Communist party member turned pro-democracy activist, was
originally sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of house arrest in
January on charges of disseminating "propaganda against the state" for commentaries
he posted on the Internet, according to international news reports. An appeals
court in Lang Son province reduced the terms to five years in prison and three
years house arrest on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Agence
France-Presse reported that some of Hoi's blog postings focused on land
disputes between citizens and the government. A series of six online articles
published between December 2006 and March 2007 were critical of one-party rule and
praised the underground pro-democracy movement, according to exiled opposition
group Viet Tan.

Hoi received
Human Rights Watch's prestigious Hellman/Hammett Award in 2009 for his
writings.

His wife, Haong
Thi Tuoi, told AP that the Supreme People's Court of Appeals reduced Hoi's
sentences because of his cooperation with investigators and his past service to
the Communist Party. He was arrested in October 2010, news reports said.

Hoi's
sentencing comes amid a mounting clampdown on dissent, including over the
Internet. An executive
decree came into force in February that gave authorities greater powers to
penalize journalists, editors, and bloggers for reporting on what the
government deems as sensitive issues. The decree's Article 5 makes sharp
distinctions between the rights of journalists accredited to the government and
independent bloggers, online reporters, and freelancers.

At least six
politically-oriented bloggers are among the scores of activists held on vague
and arbitrary national security-related charges, including "spreading
propaganda against the state" and "abusing democratic freedoms," CPJ research shows.